SERAPHINE
I can’t move, not even to blink. Whatever was in that tranquilizer is that strong. Even breathing is an effort, and the only part of my body that works is my overactive heart. Cold sweat breaks out across my skin as he drags me down the street to the back of his car, each movement making my flesh wound burn like a brand.
Is he taking me back to Leroi? A shiver runs down my spine. It won’t be Leroi. He’s injured. Miko is taking me back to Anton.
He opens the back door of a car and hauls me onto the leather seat. My breath hitches and tears burn the backs of my eyes. If I don’t find a way to overcome this drug, I’ll relive my last five years in the basement, only it will be worse.
There will be no Dad telling the twins not to break me, because Anton will be in charge. He’ll finally have the access he always wanted to my body, but he won’t make the same mistakes as Samson. I wasn’t collared that time I bit him—only bound by rope. Anton will bury a new chip somewhere so deep inside me, no one will be able to set me free.
The car pulls out and speeds down the road, jostling me around on the back seat. It reminds me of the first time Miko transported me out of Queen’s Gardens, when I was relieved to be leaving but a little wary.
Now, I’m terrified.
One sharp turn has me rolling off the seat and slamming onto the floor. Pain shoots up my spine, but it’s nothing compared to the fear gripping my heart. I try to scream, but my vocal cords won’t cooperate. I try to thrash, but my body won’t move. Miko has rendered me completely helpless.
As the car races down the highway, regret surges through my veins like acid. After leaving the basement, I could have escaped Leroi or killed him in his sleep, but I fell for the lure of finally having a protector. Leroi had played the perfect gentleman and had even refused my advances until Anton gave him permission to cross the line.
I’ve been so bloody stupid.
All this time, I fantasized about finding companionship and I even fooled myself that it might be love. Now, I see the truth. My time in Leroi’s apartment only brought me one step closer to falling into the clutches of Anton.
Bitter thoughts continue to wind through my mind as the car careens around the sharp bends of a hillside. Now, I can see the clues in the conspiracy that I should have spotted. Cold-blooded killers like Leroi don’t lose control of their emotions or break their own rules unless it’s part of an act. Leroi’s slow surrender was just part of his and Anton’s elaborate plan.
He probably isn’t even allergic to chocolate. That was just a ploy to make the fountain seem like a huge sacrifice.
The overwhelming scent of juniper trees seeping through the window tells me we’re in Alderney Hill. Terror grips my heart and my veins surge with icy panic. What if I miscalculated and Miko is taking me back to the Montesano mansion, and the three brothers want to punish me for killing their father? That would make sense, since I confessed the murder to Leroi. I don’t think I can survive another day of captivity.
The car comes to a sudden stop, jolting me back to the present. Miko winds down the window and has a hushed conversation with some men. Someone opens the back door and scoops me off the floor.
“Alright,” Miko says. “I’ve delivered the girl. Tell your boss to call off the hit.”
“He wants to see you, too.”
As I try to make sense of what’s happening, the man flings me over his shoulder and takes long strides toward a building. Each step over the gravel makes my gut churn. The drugs still have a tight grip on my muscles, but I can at least move my eyes.
With a muttered curse, Miko exits the car and has to jog to keep up with the man’s brisk pace. All I can see of my surroundings is the man’s back.
“Take her upstairs,” says a voice that makes the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Samson.
My breath catches. I don’t know if that’s better or worse. With no one to restrain Samson from his twisted urges, I’ll be facing an unimaginably brutal fate.
By the time the man carrying me ascends the stairs, the drugs have worn off enough to allow my limbs to twitch. Rough hands thread through my hair and yank up my head, forcing me to meet Samson’s eyes.
They’re even more soulless than ever. Blown pupils ringed with a thin strip of green and surrounded by dark circles. “Welcome back, Sera. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble.”
I want to spit in his face, but the muscles around my mouth won’t cooperate.
“Mr Capello?” Miko asks. “You said things would be even between us if I brought Seraphine?”
The tremor in Miko’s voice tells me he’s just realized he’s walked into the stronghold of a psychopath and won’t be allowed to leave. Samson will use Miko as a hostage to lure Anton and Leroi out of hiding. If the trio are truly a family, there will be a fight. If not, then Miko might not live to see tomorrow.
Nausea ripples through my insides. I’m so sickened at the thought of falling into Samson’s clutches again that I can’t even find any pleasure that Miko just walked into a trap.
The man carrying me stops mounting the stairs, and Samson directs him to a white room that smells of antiseptic. When he lays me on a hard surface, I finally get to see my surroundings.
We’re in an infirmary, but I don’t think Samson wants to provide me with medical attention. I scan the room for weapons or any means of escape, but it’s windowless, with a single door that’s blocked by two leering guards.
I’m lying on an operating table, and there’s a small trolley beside me containing surgical tools. Alarm squeezes my chest at the horror of my situation, but I slide an arm toward the scalpel.
“Should I strip her, boss?” the man asks.
My skin crawls, and I try to roll off the table, but Samson holds my neck in a tight grip, his fingers digging into my flesh.
“No,” he says with a wide grin. “Sera will strip for us after our guest installs the new chip.”
I shudder, my flesh crawling at the thought of exposing myself to these monsters. It took me years to build a tolerance for Samson, yet that’s now crumbled under the pretense of freedom I enjoyed with Leroi.
Miko’s breath catches. “Wait. I don’t know how to implant electronics into humans.”
Samson releases my throat, spins on his heel, and grabs Miko by the scruff of the neck. “Then you’d better learn. You and that bastard tampered with my sister and I can’t track her on the app. I want her back exactly as you found her.”
My jaw tightens. I’m not his sister.
“What’s with that face?” Samson grips my chin. “I went to all this trouble to bring you home, and you’re not even grateful.”
“It’s probably the muscle relaxant,” Miko says.
Samson leans so close that I can smell his acrid breath. It’s a stomach-churning mix of alcohol and something metallic. He’s probably back on the drugs.
“Did you fuck him?” he asks, his gaze trailing down the borrowed male clothes I’m still wearing. “Of course you did. I saw the way you were with him when you stepped out of that club. But what I want to know is why he isn’t dead like all the others?”
My nostrils flare, and I jerk my head, but the drugs slow my attempt to escape his grasp.
Samson can go to hell. Leroi might have been a liar and a schemer, but he was the first man who didn’t make me feel like an object. At least until I discovered he was warming me up for Anton.
The grip on my chin releases, only for Samson to return holding a collar.
“Put it on her and plug it to the mains socket,” he says.
Miko takes the collar with trembling hands and fastens it around my neck. My eyes water as the cold metal digs into my skin. I can’t let this happen.
“Boss,” a deep voice says from the doorway. “There’s a convoy of vehicles approaching from the top of the hill. Some of them are armored.”
“What?” Samson roars. “We weren’t supposed to be on their radar until next week.”
He charges out of the room with his guards, and the tightness in my chest loosens long enough for me to grab the scalpel.
